


Rain Clouds

by Lacertae



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternia, Alternia-Focused, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Sburb/Sgrub, acid rainstorms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-24
Updated: 2014-05-24
Packaged: 2018-01-26 09:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1683539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacertae/pseuds/Lacertae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Sollux/Karkat* written for the Bonus Round 1 of HWC 2014</p>
<p>During a visit to Karkat's hive, Sollux has to stay there for a while due to an unexpected rainstorm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rain Clouds

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this fluffy-ish fic!

Sollux slumped down against the windowsill, staring at the darkened sky outside with an expression of intense dislike.

The first few droplets were already falling against the windowpane, hissing slightly when they touched the glass polymer, and his eyes followed them as they rolled down the smooth surface until they evaporated, only to be replaced by more droplets as the downpour quickly gained strength.

Behind him, Karkat was hurrying to close all the windows with large wooden mats, helped by his Lusus, until only the one Sollux was sitting in front of was left uncovered; Sollux stiffened a bit, prepared to stop Karkat if the other troll attempted to close off that one as well, but after the last bolt was tightened Karkat simply straightened his back and glanced over at his guest, a small grimace on his face.

“Looks like you’re blocked here until the storm lets off,” he stated diplomatically, keeping his tone even.

Sollux groaned. He still hoped that the storm would die out in one night, because any longer would mean he’d be stuck in Karkat’s hive without any means to feed his bees and his Lusus, and that sent a twinge of worry down his back that he _really_ didn’t want to acknowledge.

Karkat shuffled a bit, and Sollux glanced at him, feeling oddly apathetic as he observed Karkat step closer to him, almost as if he wanted to say something, but didn’t seem to know how. Blinking, Sollux absently realised he had switched moods again, and the lethargic feeling that was trickling inside him meant that, if at his own hive, he would have moved from the red sopor to the blue one of his recuperacoon.

As it was, he was stuck with Karkat until the storm ended.

“Sollux–”

With a grunt, Sollux turned to look at the other troll.

“–I’m fucking sorry,” Karkat finally grunted out, looking down at the floor and then back up to his face. “I shouldn’t have asked you to come here to fix my husktop again. Now you’re trapped here with me until the shitstain weather decides to have mercy on our horned heads and get the fuck away from here”.

Sollux snorted. Karkat’s depreciative mood in any other situation would make him want to crack a joke, but at the moment he was far more preoccupied with his mood swing and the worry about his Lusus, so he didn’t answer, simply shrugging and looking out again.

There were lightning bolts flashing across the night sky, making it flare up with light, and Sollux could see moving figures that belonged to wild Lusii moving quickly to find a safe spot from the corrosive rainstorm.

He hoped Bicyclops would be smart enough to shuffle under the roof as well, before he got too hurt by the rain, and then idly wondered if one of his neighbours would notice he wasn’t home, and take advantage of that. It would only be his luck, really.

Behind him, momentarily forgotten, Karkat licked his lips and glanced back at his own Lusus, who was curled up in a corner of the room and was keeping his eyes fixed on Sollux. Crabdad knew him, as Karkat had invited Sollux over more than once in the past, but this was the first time he’d have his company for longer than a few hours, and he hoped his Lusus would behave.

Crabdad crooned at him, almost wanting to reassure his little troll that he would be on his best behaviour, and Karkat snorted softly, rolling his eyes.

Yes, of course, _he would_. He inwardly hoped Crabdad wouldn’t do anything to embarrass him…

“You can use my husktop to call AA, if you want,” he offered, voice cracking in the middle of the phrase. He coughed and hurried over, flicking the screen on and grateful that Sollux had decided to move the wires underground rather than to the roof, so the corrosive rain wouldn’t cut off contact with their friends.

Sollux seemed to perk up at the mention of his moirail, and Karkat smiled awkwardly at him as the other troll stood up, slightly slouched, and moved to his side. He almost placed his hand on Sollux’s shoulder, but then decided otherwise, feeling oddly self-conscious about himself with his friend so close.

Aradia was not online, so Sollux left her a message, with Karkat looking away to give him some privacy, and afterwards Sollux felt a little bit better, knowing that if there was someone who could make sure Sollux’s bees and Lusus were fine, that would be her. He did not know how long the storm would be –last time, it had been a couple weeks, but he’d been home, with enough food to last him through it– but he hoped it would not be too long.

Still, with his worry relatively calmed down –Aradia had powers he only dreamed about, and despite the thrumming of his background sixth sense that spelled doom for them all, he knew he could trust her to find a way to get to his hive. After all, their places were far closer than Karkat’s hive and his own were. She could get there without getting hurt, too.

“Say, do you want to play a game with me?” Karkat’s clumsy attempt to distract him was nice, and Sollux forced himself to nod, accepting the gesture for what it was. “I got the latest blood smackdown, and it comes with two new choices –a highblood Practitioner and a Threshecutioner”.

“Don’t think I’ll let you win thith time, KK,” he warned, slurring his words a bit but not caring one bit.

“You never let me win, shitsponge,” Karkat replied with a growl, though his eyes were so full of fondness that it made Sollux’s insides flutter a bit. “I win fair and square, I’ll have you know”.

“Yeth, yeth, believe what you want, _grubling_ ,” he snorted in reply, smirking toothily and nudging Karkat’s side with his knuckles. “We’ll thoon thee who’th right”.

“The threshecutioner’s mine!” Karkat called out, looking definitely relieved.

Sollux snorted. “I’d never pick that weak choice anyway”.

“I’ll wipe the ground with my ‘weak choice’,” Karkat warned him, smirking.

“You thould prepare a mop,” Sollux replied, tilting his head to the side. “There will be tearth on the floor and they won’t be _mine_ ”.

Karkat’s grin was definitely devious, but it triggered one from Sollux as well, and then they were moving towards the television set and Karkat’s gaming grubconsole, exchanging shoves and pokes in order to get the best position in front of the screen to play.

On the side, Crabdad chittered softly but said nothing, closing his eyes and curling into a ball of blades and danger, deciding a nap would be ok.

***

“Did you have a growth thpurt and I wasn’t told?”

Sollux shuffled inside the green sopor, glancing over at a flustered Karkat, who was trying to melt with the other side of the recuperacoon, and then snickered loudly.

“I… no! did you think, with your regressing thinkpan, that it might be you?” Karkat shuffled a bit more, but then stilled when he felt Sollux’s arm wrap around his shoulders, tugging him closer.

“I was jutht kidding, KK, relax,” Sollux was sinking into the sopor, feeling his tense muscles relax a bit, and breathed deeply, allowing the goo to soothe his worry some more.

If he was still tense, he wouldn’t sleep at all, and then he would keep Karkat up as well, and they all knew how grouchy he could be if he didn’t get enough sleep.

“Bicyclops will be fine,” Karkat muttered, shaking him out of his train of thoughts.

Sollux blinked, staring at him in surprise, but Karkat wasn’t even looking at him, eyes staring at one of the closed windows. They could not see outside, but they could hear the pitter-patter of the rain against the glass panel outside, and despite what the rain meant –corroding stuff, harming trolls and lusii and animals who were caught outside– it was also strangely soothing.

He preferred normal rain, of course, but the sound was the same, and that was enough to make him a bit drowsy.

With a sigh, he nodded, tightening his hold on Karkat’s shoulder. Since they were sharing a coon for the day, and possibly for the next couple ones as well, they were both still clothed, though with Karkat’s old shirts and boxers rather than their normal everyday clothes. The fabric felt weird against his skin, especially with the way the sopor cling to his body, slightly warm and thick, but it would do, at least until he was back home.

After another silence, strangely comfortable, he felt Karkat shuffle closer, wrapping both arms around his shoulders and forcing his head to shift until it was pressed against his shoulder.

The new position made Sollux’s ears move under the level of the sopor slime, so when Karkat started muttering more comforting words, he couldn’t really understand them, but the position made it easy for him to feel the rhythmic, steady beat of Karkat’s blood pusher, and Sollux felt a way of pleased pity fill him.

It was no secret he harboured reddish feelings for Karkat, even with the whole trading insults and jokes with each other that made their competitiveness flare up, and when Karkat broke his usual code of no-touching like this, be it for comfort or just friendly touches, it gave Sollux the fluttery hope that his red could be reciprocated.

He smiled, breath creating bubbles in the sopor, then closed his eyes, returning the embrace by wrapping both arms around Karkat’s midsection.

He felt Karkat’s heart gain an erratic pace for a moment, and his smile turned into a pleased smirk.

Yes, he had a blossoming hope that maybe his personal future might not be as doomed and barren as he kept reassuring himself it would be.

***

The next dusk, Sollux awoke first, disentangling himself from Karkat’s arms and shuffling out of the recuperacoon to have a quick shower.

Karkat was a heavy sleeper when he actually did sleep, so he wasn’t worrying over waking him up. In fact, he had to tussle a bit, because apparently even while sleeping Karkat didn’t want to let him go.

Still, he’d actually slept fine, which was quite rare for him with his far too frequent bouts of insomnia and he’d have to find a way to thank Karkat for that without making it sound like he was thanking him.

It was pleasant to remove the drenched clothes, especially since the sopor clinging to them was keeping him dazed and sleepy, and with the shower he felt completely restored. His apathetic mood was somewhat soothed back into a mildly-energetic one, not bordering over to the excess but pleasantly filling him with energy, so he went to search Karkat’s Lusus for permission to cook.

When Karkat finally awoke, he found Sollux smiling and checking his mails, including a message from Aradia stating that Bicyclops was fine, and all the bees were accounted for.

The message furthered Sollux’s good mood, and Karkat felt a flutter of contentment in watching his friend move around his hive like he owned it.

The storm was still raging outside, and the two trolls crowded together in front of the window they’d left uncovered to watch; a couple trees outside were gone, probably eradicated by the strong winds, but there were no visible dents in Karkat’s hive, nor corpses outside.

So far, so good.

“So, movie marathon?”

Sollux looked at Karkat’s knowing grin, and sneered. “I’m not going to thit through a Threth Prince Marathon, KK”.

Karkat rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we know how abysmal your taste in moves is, Sollux”.

Crabdad chittered, body lounging all over the sofa, and Karkat groaned. “Oh, no, he wants to watch Troll Starship troopers again…”

Sollux couldn’t help it –he chuckled, then flopped down on the floor in front of the sofa. “Lookth good to me”.

“Don’t encourage him!”

Sollux chuckled again, and Crabdad clacked his claws at him, so Karkat, finding himself the minority, rolled his eyes again and marched to the respiteblock to get some grubcorn ready, though his apparent grouchiness was betrayed by his amused smile.

All in all, he was actually happy to have Sollux with him, even with Sollux’s worry about his bees and Lusus –and thankfully, Aradia had calmed him down on that matter– and he would indulge in this weakness of his until the storm ended.

It felt good to have company, and even better since the company was Sollux. He was always more than welcome to pass by, and stay as long as he wished.

With the grubcorn ready and with two glasses filled with grubsauce orange flavoured, Karkat returned to the loungeblock, watching Sollux and Crabdad fight over the remote control.

He joined them, his smile still blinding.

***

The storm ended up lasting for a whole week, give or take a few hours. By that time, Karkat had expected that Sollux would be bored out of his mind, or worse annoyed with Karkat for having had to stick around for so long.

Thankfully for both of them, the week had passed easily, and by the seventh day, Karkat was surprised to see that his friend was still as friendly and snarky as the first day, perhaps a bit more touchy than then, not that Karkat was complaining.

They had exhausted all of Karkat’s movies, and most of his troll sit-com (Sollux wasn’t quite sure how he’d been roped to watch the Thresh Prince marathon after all, but it was less unpleasant than he’d thought it would be), and Sollux had already read through most of Karkat’s trashy romance books too, much to Karkat’s embarrassment. The secret compartment under the desk wasn’t as secret as he’d hoped.

Still, with the rain finally ceasing to ram through the barriers Karkat had placed up, Sollux could safely leave and reunite with his loving Lusus. He should have bolted the moment he saw the sky was clearing up, and yet he didn’t.

The week he’d spent at Karkat had been more pleasant than he could have hoped for, minus the things his teenager brain might have wanted to add here and there (stuff like self-indulging horn rubbing and maybe some sloppy makeouts), and Sollux felt almost bad for having to leave now.

Karkat’s embarrassed fidgeting on the door of the hive spoke of a similar feeling, so Sollux didn’t feel too forward when he leaned down and pressed his horns against Karkat’s shorter ones, rubbing the two sets softly before bumping foreheads with the other troll.

It was an intimate gesture, not quite a declaration of intent but something close enough that Karkat would not be able to dismiss as something else, and if the time they’d spent together closed inside the same hive spoke for itself, then Sollux hoped this gesture would be welcome.

Karkat’s small grey flush on his cheeks spoke volumes, and Sollux’s own flush wasn’t subtle either.

“Thee ya on Trollian, chump,” he called out, turning his back to Karkat’s hive and letting his psionic powers flare to life.

Rubbing one nubby horn with his fingers, Karkat grunted out. “You’d better come on as soon as you’ve fed your Lusus,” he answered with a grunt.

Seconds later, Sollux rose from the ground and used his powers to propel forwards, towards his hive, leaving behind Karkat and a promise of something red blossoming.


End file.
